Improvement in middlings-purifiers



' connections.

B, and revolving with it. b is a yoke encir- ErrED STATES WILLIAM J. FENDER, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

IMPROVEMENT IN MlDDLlNGS-PURIFIERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 159,505, dated February 9, 1875; application tiled January 14, 1875.

To all whom tt may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. FENDER, of Minneapolis, in the county of Hennepin, in the State of Minnesota, have madecertain Improvements in Middlings-Puriiers, of which the following is a specification:

The object of this invention is to simplify the construction and perfect the operation of lon a line with the brush that traverses the sieve on the edge of the sh aken* B is the main drivingshaft passing transversely through the upper part of the machine, and has the suction-fan B centrally located thereon. B is the driving-pulley on one end of shaft B, and Bl is a band-pulley on the opposite end of shaft B. b is a belt around pulley B, to and round pulley C on short horizontal shaft C', and gives motion to said shaft C and its b is an eccentric, fast on shaft cling and actuated by the eccentric b'. D is the receiving-hopper, formed by the inclined side D and opposite side d. d is an adjustable sliding gate or gage, and is adjusted upon side d, and held when adjusted by holding-screw d", so that the amountiof meal is regulated at opening d that shall pass into the machine. E is the bottom of the receiving-hopper, is in form of a segment of a circle, the center of which is at e. E E are arms that are fast to the ends of E, and are pivoted to the frame of the machine at e, in such manner that the bottom E can freely oscillate to feed the meal into the machine, and prevent clogging. e e are arms attached to the under side of the oscillating bottom E. `F is a rock-shaft placed transversely across the machine, and working in proper bearings attached to the frame A. f f are crank-arms projecting from shaft F, and connect with arms e. on the under side of the hopper-bottom, to give the necessary oscillating motion to the bottom E, and are adjustable thereon to compensate for lost motion by the lugs e. f is a spring connecting-rod or pitman attached at one end to yoke b, and at the other to a crank-pin on crank, f', on rock-shaft F. As the eccentric b revolves with shaft B it vibrates the crank f and rock-shaft F, which gives the oscillating' motion to the bottom E through the spring connecting-mdf. This rod f is made elastic or yielding, in order to prev/ent breaking, as there is another connecting-rod that is rigid, and attached to yoke b, and communicates motion in another direction; hence one must give in order to prevent breaking of parts, as it would'probably do if both connecting-rods were nou-yielding.

By this construction of parts the feeding of the meal into the machine is regulated, and all liability to clogging is prevented, as it will be observed that the curvature of the feeding y bottom ofthe hopper is inclined downward at or toward the feed-opening 01 and the opposite or highest part passes under and in close contact with the inclined side D of the hoprer. No particles can be retained upon it, but all must pass through evenly at the opening d.

G is an inclined open frame fast between pivoted arms E', and oscillates with them, and on the upper side has bolt-cloth g secured, and ou its upper and outer edge has a perpendicular face board, g', projecting upward, to receive and conduct all the meal as it is fed from thebottom E into the machine, tho cloth on the inclined frame acting as the means of distributing the meal evenly the whole width of the frame into the shaker. H is an inclined transverse partition, extending up to near the top of the machine, where there is hinged a tiapvalve, h, to regulate theopenin g between it and the under side of the top casing of the machine into the exhaust-chamber. rThis partition conducts the meal evenly into the shaker. h h h are inclined gathering-slats with air-openings h between-them to admit a current of air to pass through the sieve or bolt-cloth g, and impinge against and pass through the meal as it falls from the cloth y, through the narrow opening h, thence into the shaker. I is the shaker, composed of a rectangular frame, and covered with a cloth, t', of the requisite mesh to sort the grains of middlings on its bottom or lower side, is of such width as to freely slide inside the width of the frame and casing of the machine, and is suspended at four points by four projecting rods, i', that work in upright vibrating arms i that are connected adjustably in horizontal slots i in the slotted plates i, that are adjustable vertically by a holding-screw in the vertical plates. J is a connecting-rod or pitman, connected at its upper end to yoke b over the eccentric b', and at its lower end is adjustably connected to crank-arm j on horizontal transverse shaft J Rig-idly fixed to shaft J are two projecting arms, j', that engage with adjustable lugs j on the outside of the shaker-frame I, so that as the eccentric b revolves it will, through the yoke b and pitman J, give a short horizontal reciprocating motion to the shaker I. The adj ustable lugs j on the side of the shaker are made in separate parts, and each part to be adjusted to compensatefor wear, either of the arms j that bear upon the lugs to actuate the shaker, or of the lugs themselves, and for lost motion when either part is worn so that there would be play between the arm and lugs.

The horizontal reciprocations ofthe shaker are graduated to be more or less by adjusting the connecting-rod J upon the crank-arm j. Short horizontal shaft C has a mitcr gearwhecl, c, fast upon it, and gears into another miter gear-wheel, c', on vertical shaft c, and gives motion to upright shaft, and to the Worm or spiral gear-wheel c, which gears into teeth on wheel K that is on a horizontal shaft projecting longitudinally from the end of the machine. L is a connecting-rod, adjustably connected to one of the radial arms of toothed wheel K at lf, and thence with the segmental toothed wheel L at lo. Toothed segmental wheel Ll is pivoted at l, so as to freely vibrate upon its pivot. Ll is a toothed pinion on a horizontal sh aft, gearing into segmental Wheel L, and as wheel K makes one revolution it actuates the segmental gear to vibrate back and forth, which in turn causes the pinion L to make arevol ution in one direction as the segmental gear vibrates one way, and when the opposite vibration of the segmental gear takes place the pinion L makes a reverse revolution. O is a horizontal longitudinal shaft, revolved by pinion L, and upon which, and near each end of the machine, are secured pulle'tV that revolve with shaft O, and make a revolution in reverse directions the same as pinion L. 0 0 o o are pulleys at the sides of the machine, and made secure thereto so as to freely revolve in either direction. o o are bands, each one fastened at either end to one ofthe pulleys O', and then passing over side pulleys o, and attached to the brush. rlhese bands are wound around pulleys O, so that as the pulleys make a complete revolution and are then `caused to reverse and make a revolution in the reverse direction, they cause the brush to sweep the bolt-cloth alternately in both directions. l? is a brush extending longitudinally the entire length of the under side of the bolt-cloth on the shaker-frame, and is rigidly connected to-the bands o o', and as the band is forced in opposite directions the brush P is carried transversely and completely across the entire width of the shaker-frame, and its motion is reversed after the brush has passed off of the boltcloth,and while it is in contact with the frame of the shaker, which prevents the wear upon the bolt-cloth that takes place when the motion of the brush is reversed while bearing upon the bolt-cloth. p p are downward projections on the under side of the shaker-frame, and form wipers to clear the brush from all adhering particles of meal or dust, as the brush passes under' and past them before reversing its course of travel.

By this means the brush is cleared of meal before its return movementacross the boltcloth, which is necessary to have done., for, as the brush is always in an upright position, some means must be adapted to clear the meal out that is unavoidably held in the brush, or else the brush would iill entirely and be useless lfor keeping the meshes of the bolt-cloth clear by its action. pp are supports and guides to the brush in its reciproca-tions across the bolt-cloth. p p are gathering-slats on each side of the machine, to gather the middlings after they have been purified, with air-spaces p between them. Q is a conveyer to deliver the purified middlings to a proper receptacle, and is revolved by gear-wheel q on shaft C', and the wheel g on the shaft of the conveyer. The suction-fan B', being in motion, causes a current of air from the outside of the machine, through openings h and 19 into the machine. The air that is caused to pass in through spaces h" strikes the meal as it is being evenly spread on the cloth g of the vibrating frame G, and as it falls oif the cloth toward and upon the inclined partition H, to the aperture h, when the first separation of dust and light particles from the middlin gs takes place, and such light particles pass off with the current of air into the exhaust-fan, and forced to make exit at the opening R out ofthe machine. The valve h is used to control the force of the passing current into the exhaust-fan. The air that passes in through spaces 19' is caused to pass upward through the bolt-cloth on the shaker I, where it comes directly in contact with the middlings in agitation on the shaker, when the second separation takes place by the remainder of all light particles with the middlings being iloated off with the current of air up through openings s s s in the ceiling of the machine over the shaker, then forced out of the machine through the exit-opening R by the exhaust-fan B. All particles too heavy to be separated by the two applications of currents of air, and too large to pass through the meshes of the boltcloth, are passed off of the tail end of the shaker and disposed of in the usual manner. s s s are valves to regulate the current of air that passes through openings s. s s s are deiiectors placed under the openin gs s, to more equally distribute the currents of air in pass ing out of the chamber above the shaker.

A brush traversing the bolt cloth transversely back and forth the entire Width of the shaker, and reversing its direction off of the cloth, is a great improvement over old methods, Where the brush travels in one direction only, and more than one-half of the time does not actV upon the cloth, or Where a series of brushes having short reciprocations, and reversing their direction of reciprocation upon the cloth is used.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim isl. The feeding-device composed of the vibrating bottom E, pivoted arms E', arms e', adjustable connection e, and distributer G, in combination with the devices that actuate them, substantially as described.

2. The inclined gathering-strips h and openings h between them, to admit air that is made to impinge upon the meal and separate the light particles from the middlings before the middlings fall intothe shaker, in combination with the distributer Gr, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with the eccentric b', of the yoke b, the yielding connecting-mdf, and rod J, rigidly connected to yoke b, whereby motion is given to a vibrating feed device and a reciprocating shaker from the same shaft, substantially as described.

4. The combination of the rock-shaft J arm j', and adjustable lugs j j, with the shaker I, constructed and operatin g substantially as described.

5. The combination of the revolving Wormgear Wheel c, toothed Wheel K, connectingrod Il, segmental gear L', pinion L, shaft O, pulleys O', band o', and guides p with the brush I, substantially as described.

6. The projections p p on the under side of the shaker-frame I, in combination With the reciprocating brush P for cleaning it, substantially as described.

7. In a machine for purifying middlings, the transversely-reciprocating brush I), arranged to be carried across the en tire Width of the boltcloth of the shaker, and reversing its movement off of the cloth, and returning in the opposite direction in the same plane, substantially as and for the purpose described.

WILLIAM T. FENDER. 

